Resources and Publications

State of the Net Conference: The Strain of Internet Video

ITIF Senior Fellow Richard Bennett will be participating in a panel at the Congressional Internet Caucus Advisory Committee's 7th annual State of the Net Conference.

Panel: The Strain of Internet Video: How Will Lawmakers & Regulators React?

Suddenly, traditionally produced video content (a.k.a. TV and Hollywood blockbusters) has gone online. New content served up from Netflix, Hulu, iTunes, Amazon VOD and others are feeding a growing appetite by consumers eager for more streamed Internet video. New devices such as Apple TV, Roku, Boxee and new set top boxes are making it easy for consumers to view online video in their living rooms. Vast oceans of expensive video--once only distributed through the box office, DVD sales, broadcast towers and cable pipes--are starting to torrent through Internet protocols straining the Internet backbone, the last mile to the home, existing commercial video contracts and decades of mass media and video rules and regulations. Will the strain compel action from regulators and lawmakers? Which existing rules governing video distributed over broadcast and cable apply to the very same video content served up bit by bit over the Internet? This is certainly new territory for businesses and regulators and the lack of an existing framework to deal with these issues is awe-inspiring.

Preceding the panel will be a short presentation by Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Research Associate, Dr. William Lehr, on how the Internet content delivery system works and what the policy and marketplace implications for the dramatic paradigm shift in online video distribution are.